Them: The Age of Dinosaurs Officially Published in French and Italian PNSO Scientific Art Meets French- and Italian-speaking Readers

The French and Italian versions of Them: The Age of Dinosaurs(French: NOUS DINOSAURES; Italian: NOI DINOSAURI ), ZHAO Chuang and YANG Yang’s classic scientific art work, has been officially published in July 2019, meeting French- and Italian-speaking readers for the first time.

Them: The Age of Dinosaurs Chinese Version Published by Yunnan Fine Arts Publishing House. 2018.7

The two versions of Them: The Age of Dinosaurswere licensed to and published by NuiNui, a Swiss Publishing House. Cristiano Dal Sasso, paleontologist of Milan Natural History Museumand an expert on Mesozoic vertebrates,edited the book and wrote the introduction, in which he said, “Through Zhao Chuang’s captivating illustrations and Yang Yang’s text contributions, dinosaur enthusiasts the world over will now be introduced to a whole suite of ‘new’ dinosaurs, those that have only recently been discovered. . . Reconstruction is by no means a pure exercise in artistry. There exists a scientific basis for this.”

The French and Italian versions have gained widespread attention. A well-known French bookstore chain has ordered the French version in mass, with additional print runs being requested. NuiNui will bring more of PNSO’s works to French and Italian readers. In 2020, NuiNui will publish Them: The Age of Sea Monsters, PNSO Children’s Encyclopedia: The Secrets of Sea Monsters, and PNSO Dinosaur Museum: Large Carnivorous Dinosaurs.

NOUS DINOSAURES

NOI DINOSAURI

PREFACE

by Cristiano Dal Sasso

(Translated by Vali Tamm)

Cristiano Dal Sasso is a paleontologist with the Natural History Museum of Milan whose field of expertise is the study of fossil reptiles. His research on dinosaurs from Italy and Africa has appeared in such prestigious international science journals as Nature, Scienceand PeerJ.

There comes a certain point during a child’s development when their interest in dinosaurs is so strong that it becomes all-consuming, so much so, in fact, that they will compete with one another to see who can roll the names of the most species off their tongues, even when you’d think such long and complicated genus names would be barely pronounceable, let alone that one might commit them to memory. On the contrary, instead of holding back these young sponges of knowledge, this complex nomenclature system only adds fuel to their fire. The binomial names, with their prosaic Latin timbre are clearly as fascinating to children as is the colossal appearance of the dinosaurs themselves: they soundprehistoric. With this youthful lot as the target audience, then, the publisher has deliberately chosen to present the dinosaurs using their scientific names in lieu of the common ones.